Geoff Ross

Geoff Ross is part of The Bakery, a company that invests in high growth New Zealand businesses, including body care and home fragrance company Ecoya and Marlborough beer maker Moa.

Prior to The Bakery, Geoff was the founder and CEO of 42 Below Limited, which was a listed company for three years prior to its sale to Bacardi in late 2006. Prior to 42 Below, he was managing Partner and Board Member of DDB Advertising for two years and was a Client Service Director and Management Team Member for Saatchi and Saatchi Wellington for eight years. Geoff is also a board member of the Melanoma Foundation and adviser to Air New Zealand’s ‘Grab a Seat’ initiative.

In 2003, when the press was starting to take real notice of 42 Below and its audacious viral advertisements, Geoff was asked to make a speech at Thrive, a pep rally for new New Zealand businesses and entrepreneurial wannabes. A week out, he scribbled down a few headlines.

This presentation was given a hundred times or more in the next three years. Fundamentally, it remains the same today, and delivers his views on Common Sense and Good Ideas. There are eleven of them. It would have been nicer to have ten or twelve, and that is what most management marketing books would have tried to do. That is exactly why he feels eleven is the right number.

For more advice from Geoff, check out his book written with his partner Justine Troy on the 42 Below Story, which is a great read for any Kiwi entrepreneur.